As a sports fan, few things beat the experience of being in the arena and enjoying a game, right? The deafening sound of cheers, the emotional roller coaster ride that is most sporting events, and the thrill of being there for your team’s most memorable moments—there truly is nothing better.
If this is all true, though, why have attendance numbers for most live sporting events been dropping across the board?
What first opened my eyes to this was a photo I saw trending on Twitter during one of last year’s La Salle-Ateneo basketball games. In the middle of the first quarter of what many call the “greatest rivalry in Philippine Sports”, half of the arena still looked empty, with most of the upper box and general admission areas barely filled with anyone.
As a longtime fan and someone who covered the team the two previous seasons, it was honestly a shock to see Araneta Coliseum that unoccupied for a game that many would have done anything to acquire tickets for, even just a year before.
That then begged the question, why was I, someone who had been to probably 80 percent of the Green Archers’ games the past few seasons, watching from home?
The easy, quick answer was that it was no longer worth it.
The average basketball game takes about 90 minutes to finish, but when attending a game at Araneta or at the Mall of Asia Arena, there are so many other factors to consider.
If you live in Metro Manila, traffic is automatically something that comes to mind; when attending a game, parking is another problem. After adding around two hours before and after the game, give and take, that would mean dedicating five and a half hours of your day just to that one event. In today’s world, do we really have time for something that takes that long?
With all this being said, however, it isn’t just our local sports leagues that are being affected by this problem. In the United States, Major League Baseball experienced a drop in attendance for the seventh straight year, with last year’s numbers dropping a whopping 10 percent from the year prior. The same can be said for teams like the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association, which, despite their brand-new arenas, are still seeing major declines in attendance.
Even for a team like Real Madrid, which is popular all over the world, drastic attendance drops are affecting the organization. In this year’s season opener at the Bernabeu Stadium, 48,446 people were there to cheer on their squad. While this may seem like a lot, it is a far cry from the 76,870 fans the arena housed in its season opener just five seasons prior.
Now, the question is, is there still a way to salvage this problem?
For me, the only way to get people to flock to arenas and pay high ticket prices again is to improve the overall fan experience. In countries like the US, teams have begun investing in exorbitantly expensive stadiums to make people want to come back. For example, the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas boasts a 281-by-95-foot Jumbotron that cost an estimated $40 million dollars to produce in order to attract fans.
While I know local arenas will not be able to invest this much, there are still little things that could inspire fans to come back. For the Baseball Stadium in Rizal, a simple bathroom renovation and the cleaning of seats could help. In the Araneta Coliseum and the Mall of Asia Arena, maybe avoid increasing food prices too much.
I know some renovations are currently happening such as the one at the Rizal Football Stadium, but there is so much more to improve. I know it’s unlikely, but for Rizal events, more organized parking areas will greatly increase fan attendance. It may sound pretentious, but it is not exactly ideal when I have to parallel park just outside the arena, in the middle of a busy road.
Overall, though, these factors are not really that convincing to go to the game instead of watching the game from my couch or from going to a bar with my friends, saving money, and enjoying the experience there.
And that brings me to my next point: why aren’t teams and leagues in more of a panic?
The hidden reality here is that most teams and leagues no longer rely on gate attendance for most of their profit, but rather on valuable media contracts that provide most of their revenue. Especially for US-based leagues, attendance may be dropping, but increasing interest which can be seen in more Cable and League Pass subscriptions, and others of that ilk are providing them the money that they used to only be able to get from fans in attendance.
Still, what these stadium owners and teams are failing to understand, however, is that true sports fandom is rooted from the experience of being there in person, witnessing, and cheering on your team—win or lose. Personally, I can say that my best moments are the times I was with my dad or with my friends, watching a game at the arena. I remember those times fondly, no matter how long ago they were. Those were the times that made me a super fan.
And while leagues may quickly set aside this notion, the long-term ramifications are huge. If they are unable to bring the personal experience back, they may be unable to instill the extreme fandom that defined this and past generations. It’s only a matter of time before teams and realize they need to win the fans back.
